Person of Interest: "Prophets"Review

Okay, so Root and Martine shooting at each other from separate levels of the hotel was freakin' amazing.

And throwing that Black Angels song in there from the Season 4 trailer was icing. What an awesome sequence. Made all the more nerve-racking by the fact that the episode had been setting up Root to die. So much so actually that I thought she might not. But that feeling certainly wasn't strong enough to prevent me from clutching the arms of my chair the entire time. Because if a death is heroic and badass enough, foreshadowing won't diminish it.

"Prophets," which guest starred Jason Ritter as a wunderkind pollster named Simon, was the best episode of Season 4 thus far. With Reese practically handcuffed to his desk, Team Machine came face to face with their limitations as protectors as they tried their best to protect Simon from the full force of Samaritan's micro-manipulated death traps. So tricks of the trade this week included blind spots, blocked calls, car crashes and - finally - Root having to pop out in the open and go toe-to-toe with Martine in guns blazing "God Mode."

Simon lived, but it wasn't a happy ending. He had to accept the enormity of a crushing, corrupt defeat - perhaps even having to convince himself, for sanity's sake, that he'd been delusional. Both a career and a confidence crushed at such an early age. All so he could live. On an episode that featured a lot of discussions about faith and caution. Optimism and pessimism. Where it was revealed that Root, in fact, hadn't been in direct contact with The Machine since the end of last season.

Abandoned for her own safety, Root was more or less in the dark. With only "whispers" here and there to slightly guide her. We assumed that her myriad assortment of clothing, disguises, and identities were because The Machine had her off doing secret missions, but she was really more like the rest of the team than she let on. She needed to change her name every few days and had basically been sidelined like the others. She's wasn't currently an active operative like Martine was for Samaritan.

But Root still believed The Machine cared for her. For the entire team. While Finch, due to his past experiences trying to create an AI that "cares" (with cool Nathan Ingram-filled flashbacks showing us what an arduous, and dangerous, process it was to find one that didn't lie or fight back), was more skeptical of The Machine's ability to truly love everyone. Telling Root that the only way he could initially bring The Machine to heel was by crippling it and limiting its capabilities.

It was a compelling, moving scene that made me think of some of the words Finch shared with Arthur back in Season 3. A great reminder that this show has a way of getting my emotions up and my feelings at full-throttle just from a conversation about a computer program. Root had the feeling that she might not make it out of this war, or even this night, alive, but was still willing to do her duty despite lack of directive. And granted, as the Machine's top "doer" she's most people's pick to not survive the show's next purge. Though, after she survived this gauntlet, any attempt to take Root out in the future will have to be extra big and extra meaningful.

Oh, and Root saying "Give Shaw a message" and Finch cutting her off and saying "I think she already knows" should be enough to fuel a thousand fandom flames. Wonderful little moment.

Meanwhile, Reese (who managed to ride in at the last second in a mask to help out), had to get a bit real in his mandated therapy sessions with bulls***-detecting Dr. Iris Campbell. Yes, despite Reese's knack for closing cases, his excessive shooting of kneecaps became a big issue for the department this week. Gotta love actual real world consequences.

Anyhow, he tried to suave his way out of his first appointment, but then decided to bring up a few real things the second go round (without going into full Machine disclosure), including Carter. An unexpected touching moment there, and one that helped remind us that her death still drives him. Because remember, it took both the mission and her to save him and drag him up from the depths of despair.

The Verdict

"Prophets" was dangerous and thrilling. The only way it really could have been better was if Root had died. And I say that knowing that she's my favorite character. I'm just a huge fan of raised stakes, large losses, and pyrrhic victories. And I love feeling crappy. What can I say?

Either way though, not only was this episode inventive and action-packed, but it gave us a glimpse of some of Samaritan's larger steps toward full domination - involving controllable politicians. And while we still focus in on Greer, villain-wise, because he's human and reachable, he wasn't kidding when he said he was going to take orders from Samaritan.